“What am I doing to make peace happen in Nigeria? What is the role of my household in ensuring peace in Nigeria? – Dr. Zebulun Takwa to Nigerians

PIC.3. OFFICERS AND MEN OF PEACE CORPS OF NIGERIA, DURING THEIR 18TH ANNIVERSARY/ FOUNDER'S
DAY IN ABUJA ON SATURDAY (9/7/16).
4903/9/7/2016/JAU/NAN

Adviser to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Peace and development, Dr Zebulun Takwa, on Tuesday called on every Nigerian to ensure peace is sustained in the country. He said this while speaking to Newsmen in Abuja, at the commemoration of the International Day of Peace, with the theme for this year’s event: “The Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace”. He said, although the country is going through tough times, but if every Nigerian takes it upon him or herself to ensure peace reigns in the country, Nigeria is sure to scale through.

“We are commemorating the International Day of Peace at a very challenging moment; it should be a “wake-up call ” and to ask if this is what Nigeria merits. “Nigeria does not deserve what is happening on the ground. We all can be part and parcel of seeking for solution. “We should move from “blame-game” and see how we, who are not part of the problem, can become part of the solution,” he said.

He went further by charging every Nigerian, to start asking what he or she could do to put the country on the path of peace and development. “I can link it to the ongoing “Change begins with me” campaign by the present administration; the same message goes for the issue of peace and values that we all propagate. “What am I doing to make peace happen in Nigeria? What is the role of my household in ensuring peace in Nigeria? “I think that is the question that everybody should write and put on the walls of their homes; when we start reflecting like this, the answers will come.”

While explaining, he said peace is a process that requires consistent work, and should not be seen as mere slogan, but a substance that everybody must invest in before it yields results. “Peace is not like an equation that you have a ready-made formula for or like a medication that you just swallow and sit down, expecting it to work. “It must be watered like a flower each day.

It (peace) requires watering, pruning, putting the manure and everything before you will reap the flower in the future. If you don’t do that and you miss one day, then there is a loophole in achieving it,” he said.

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Valentine Chinyem is a writer, editor, educationist and a human developer. He is passionate about Nigeria, her culture and people; and believes the media in Nigeria, should do more to sell the country positively to the rest of the world